Puppy Love
by desert anbu
Summary: Kiwi has some sage advice that his human friends should take to heart. UlrichYumi oneshot.


There was no reason – nor was there rhyme, now that I think about it – for writing this story, but I did it anyway because that's what I do.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko, or its characters, I just own the plot.

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_Puppy Love_

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The past few days had been rather dull considering the fact that Xana seemed to be taking a vacation of sorts. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and because the gang had become accustomed to frequent chaos, the calm was a bit…well…_boring_.

At least until Kiwi had decided that he was sick of being inside, thank you.

Because Jeremy was busy talking to Aelita via his laptop and Odd was in the cafeteria – no surprises there – the job of retrieving the dog had been left in the reluctant hands of Yumi and Ulrich.

"Great. Now where did he go?" Ulrich stuffed his hands in his pockets and scanned the area, slowly turning in a circle until he had turned back to where he had started. They had already been searching for the animal for a half hour and they had only caught glimpses of him twice.

"I thought I saw him over there a second ago," Yumi said, pointing over to their left at a small cluster of bushes. She led the way to said area and Ulrich crouched on the ground, one hand in the grass for balance as he leaned forward to peer beneath the bushes. Yumi walked around the perimeter and returned to find Ulrich on his stomach, a good portion of his body having disappeared from sight. "Do you see him?" she asked, bending at the waist to get a better look.

"No." Ulrich's voice was muffled and Yumi suppressed a grin as he wriggled out of the tangle of branches and held up a small plastic piece made for a Gameboy. "But I found the game Odd lost last week." As an afterthought he flicked a twig from his hair that had been tickling his ear and quickly brushed any other stray objects that may have collected on his person during his search through the little thicket. That failed to get rid of the grass and dirt stains on his clothes, but he didn't seem to notice. "Now what?"

"Well…" Yumi rubbed her temples with her fingers and shrugged. "Maybe we should split up to cover more ground. We can keep in touch with our cell phones."

"Yeah, and if we don't find him in another half hour I'm making Odd come out and find him."

Yumi flashed him a grin that, if he hadn't spent the last six months building an iron grip around his expressions, would have made him blush. He really couldn't allow the way he felt about her change things between them. Especially in Lyoko.

"I'll second that. We'll meet at the manhole in a half hour." With a short wave, Yumi turned and soon disappeared into the trees, leaving Ulrich to his own devices.

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"Kiwi! Kiwi, where are you?"

An exasperated mix between a sigh and a groan escaped him and he made himself comfortable on a rock. His cell phone rang almost immediately and he dug it out of his pocket, flipping it open with his thumb as he watched the surrounding area. "Yumi?"

"Hey, Ulrich. Any luck?"

Ulrich shook his head. "No. You?"

"None." He heard a short breathy laugh on the other end of the line. "Looks like Odd's going to have a bit of a workout."

"Yeah, looks – Hey!" Ulrich jumped off of the rock that had been his impromptu chair and dove through a pair of trees that grew a bit closer to each other than the others. "Kiwi, get back here!"

As though he were answering him, Kiwi yipped and bolted, running as fast as his little legs could carry him.

Away from Ulrich.

"Ulrich! You found him?"

"Sort of. He's heading toward the stadium!"

"Got it, I'll meet you there." The line went dead and Ulrich shoved the cell phone back into his pocket, glad to be able to put all of his attention on chasing the little dog.

"Kiwi! This isn't funny!"

Kiwi, however, seemed to think it was very funny.

Ulrich ran as fast as he could, becoming increasingly annoyed with the fact that the dog was still moving faster than he was. "What does Odd _feed_ that dog? Rocket fuel?!"

Kiwi yipped and burst into the stadium, his little paws hardly making a sound on the grass as he scrambled for purchase. His hindpaws skidded and he twisted his body around, barely missing Yumi when she made a grab for him.

"Kiwi!" Ulrich skidded to a halt and reversed direction when Kiwi came sprinting toward him. At the last second he dove forward and wrapped his arms around the little dog's squirming body, tumbling head over heels in the grass until he lost momentum and fell flat on his back, Kiwi lying on his stomach.

_Yip!_ Kiwi's tail began to wag and he gave Ulrich's face an enthusiastic cleaning with his wet tongue.

"Ew… Get off, you stupid dog," Ulrich grumbled, struggling with the excited animal until he could hold him away at an arm's length. "Thanks Kiwi, but I think I like _my_ baths better."

A faint giggle sounded behind him and Ulrich turned to see Yumi standing nearby, dark eyes sparkling with withheld laughter that further emphasized the broad grin on her face. "I think that means he likes you, Ulrich," she commented, only half-heartedly trying to stifle her laughter.

Ulrich's lips twitched and his brows furrowed, but the effect was spoiled when Kiwi somehow managed to wriggle forward enough to give the boy a very sloppy kiss. "Eeaugh!" While trying to move his face away from Kiwi and hold him even further at arm's length, Ulrich lost his balance and collided with something warm and soft.

Momentarily blinded by a flurry of light brown fur, Ulrich didn't have the chance to realize what he had run into until Kiwi was safely locked in his arms and he had finally regained his balance. "Uhh… Thanks, Yumi."

Despite his growing self-control, Ulrich felt the heat rising to his face and wished that he had fallen on the ground instead of into Yumi. Especially since he was now standing and his face was only an inch or so away from hers.

Kiwi butted his muzzle against Ulrich's chin and the distance closed between the two teenagers, bringing their lips together for a brief second.

For a moment they could only stare at each other in wide-eyed surprise before Ulrich broke away and quickly looked at the ground, not seeming to notice that Kiwi was strangely cooperative all of the sudden. "Sorry," he said finally, offering her a shy smile and hoping desperately that he wasn't still blushing.

Yumi stared at him in complete shock for a moment longer and then her face softened. "It's okay. Come on, let's get Kiwi back inside before Jim catches us."

"Yeah." Ulrich glared at the dog, which went ignored, and followed Yumi back into the school.

"Ulrich?" The brown-haired boy looked up and was surprised to see the faint tinge of pink on the older girl's cheeks. "Try not to taste like a dog next time."

Ulrich didn't know how to react, but Kiwi sure did.

_LICK!_

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And that concludes my short and rather pointless story. Huzzah.

Please review, or I will be forced to send my deranged henchmen after you to eat all of your ice cream and steal your left shoe.


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